Rail v Cars

The auto traffic problem is separate from the public transit problem. The trains and buses only go where they go. 97% of Atlanta commuters don’t live at Marta Stations, nor do they work near Marta Stations. Until that happens, a $50 billion train expansion is unsustainable. What is sustainable is the continued effort to bring MARTA expenses down to match revenue. Private bus services operate on Buford highway with no tax subsidies. I think all bus service could be private. So, why are they not private? Federal funds for MARTA capital budgets are scheduled to drop from $51.7 million in 2014 to $30.4 million in 2015 and $14.3 million in 2016.

There has been little population growth in DeKalb, Fulton and the City of Atlanta since 2008 and the larger metro area has lost tens of thousands of jobs. Population increase projections for central planners have become worthless. The population of the 4 county metro area remains around 3.2 million. The commuters jamming up GA-400 come from largely from North Fulton. The I-285 traffic is interstate and commuter East to West. For a while, during the 1990s, when employees moved from jobs in Cobb to jobs in Gwinnett, they physically moved to Gwinnett. The interest rate spike in the 2000s slowed that trend.

Large cities who built highway grids over their cities and interstate bypass highways solved their problem. US 27 should be connected to I-75 and I-85 to give interstate traffic the option to bypass Atlanta. The EPA froze highway building in Atlanta for decades and we missed the window. Our current no growth economy has homeowners stuck where they are and open to jobs anywhere. Confidence that things will improve is very low. Many have already moved to rural counties and other states. If the economy does improve after 2016, jobs are likely to be created in the rural counties where land costs and taxes are lower. The current labor force participation rate is 62.8%. That means 37.2% of working age Americans are not working.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-forward/2014/02/10/will-commuter-rail-help/?#comment-12087